North West business briefs: HC:Fit; Feast at the Mills; Finnoah PR; Cognition Learning Group; THG; Stunner Vintage Football Store

Former Olympian, Henry Cookey, has received a £10,000 loan from the Small Business Loans fund provided by Regional Growth Funding together with Unity Bank and managed by River Capital, for his Bootle-based ninja training gym and fitness centre business, HC: Fit – Ninja Training.

The business was established in 2016 by current Taekwondo World Champion and former Team GB Olympian Cookey, with the assistance of an MSIF facilitated Start-Up Loan.
It has seen consistent growth in membership and now has more than 40 paying members and a steady stream of regular walk-in clients. It is a local version of the popular TV series Ninja Warrior UK, in which Henry competed in three series.

He intends to use the recently-acquired funds to increase the gym’s marketing presence via digital channels and add prominent outdoor signage to drive further membership numbers, as well as making the gym environment more welcoming with some new and bright decorations.

River Capital investment manager, Andy Jones, said: “It is a pleasure to help such a committed motivated and impressive business owner who we have supported before with funding to further grow and develop his business. Ninja Training is a unique type of health and fitness training, so different from the competition and with Henry’s own personal success, knowledge and experience, this will mean his customers will be getting the very best opportunity to reap the full impact and benefit.”

Henry Cookey said: “Working with River Capital to get my business off the ground was a great experience. Looking to take HC:Fit to the next level, the decision to get back in touch was a no brainer. Working with River Capital and Andy Jones has once again been a brilliant experience.”

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Hasties

Four independent North West hospitality vendors have been confirmed for Feast at The Mills, Eckersley Mills’ upcoming weekend street food destination in Wigan, which is set to launch on Friday, October 20, 2023.

The first four vendors cooking up a storm at Wigan’s highly anticipated food experience will be Hastie’s Crispy Chicken, famous for its mouth-watering 24-hour brined chicken, Liverpool’s Christakis, delicious Greek street food classics with salads, halloumi fries and wraps, Dough So Good, which currently pops up at markets across the town with its authentic Neapolitan wood-smoked pizzas and The Old Bank, offering coffee, teas and cakes.

Adding to the food offering at Feast at the Mills will be a dedicated performance space for local bands, artists and DJs where the best local talent, from Northern Soul to House, Acoustic to Jazz, are encouraged to put themselves forward. There will also be two bars serving an array of beers, spirits and cocktails. One of the old weaving sheds has been renamed The Ritz in honour of the long-gone Wigan landmark, with a large projector and screen, that will also be available for all kinds of events.

This outdoor and indoor street food market is the first of its kind for Wigan and will be open for the public to visit and enjoy every Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday all day from later this month until the end of the year. Feast at the Mills represents the first stage of Wigan-based Heaton Group’s plans to redevelop the whole Eckersley Mills site, acting as an incubator for the permanent food hall, currently under development in the neighbouring Mill One building.

Alex McCulloch, development manager at Heaton Group, said: “We are excited to share the news that these four fantastic food vendors will be part of Feast at The Mills – they each bring something different and will provide real quality to the overall experience every weekend.”

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Steven Kelly

Former senior national journalist, Steven Kelly, has launched a new PR agency. Stockport-based Finnoah PR will provide a range of specialist media-related services, including top tier coverage generation, content creation, crisis communications and social media management.

Since moving into PR in 2015, Steven has secured coverage for clients, including with Reuters, PA Media, formerly Press Association, Sky News, BBC News, ITV News, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Sky Sports, the Financial Times, and most other national UK consumer and trade outlets.

He said: “Having worked in media for more than two decades, I have developed a thorough understanding of the media landscape. My journalism experience has been vital to my PR success. We know how journalists think and what they want.”

Despite being a small start-up, Steven, who began his media career in 2001, added that the firm has ambitions to become a leading force in the UK PR market: “We know we can compete with the UK’s biggest agencies. We are aiming for the very top.”

During his previous role, Steven said he amassed a global coverage reach of more than eight billion, including for a sports event which ESPN translated it into 13 languages. He has also worked across a variety of sectors, including tech, finance, manufacturing, education, biotech, sport, health, construction, literature, housing and charity.

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Phil Goff

Global education consultancy, development and digital learning business, Cognition Learning Group, hosted His Excellency Phil Goff at the company’s new Manchester office recently. The visit was arranged to celebrate the group as a New Zealand headquartered company that is driving education outcomes in the UK.

Cognition has enjoyed significant growth in the UK since its arrival seven years ago, securing major contracts with the Department for Education (DfE), the NHS and the BBC.

The High Commissioner was joined by Joseph Nelson, New Zealand’s Trade Commissioner to the UK, at the event. With its head office based in New Zealand and owned by Te Rau Puāwai Education Trust, the High Commissioner and Trade Commissioner’s visit derived from Cognition Learning Group’s long standing association with Te Taurapa Tūhono, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE).

In March 2023, Cognition Learning Group secured a £4.2m contract to deliver the DfE’s Teacher Mentoring Programme (TMP), commencing in August. Cognition Learning Group brand, Cognition Education, also delivers the Department for Education’s National Tutoring Programme (NTP) and the Transition to Teach programme (T2T).

Cognition chief executive, Tina Lucas, said: “This visit demonstrates continued support, and a significant acknowledgement, of our efforts to make a difference to the lives of children, young people and adults globally. We know from our work that learning has the power to transform lives and strengthen communities and since our inception as a services company in NZ we have expanded our reach and impact to over 30 countries worldwide.”

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THG, the Manchester-based global proprietary technology platform specialising in taking brands direct to consumers, has joined forces with charity Tech She Can, in a two-year partnership to help tackle the gender divide in the UK’s tech industry.

Through the partnership, THG employees will be invited to enrol in Tech She Can’s volunteering programme, Tech We Can Champions, involving relatable tech role models delivering online and in-person classroom visits across the UK to teach school-age children valuable technology and life skills.

Tech She Can has grown to include more than 240 member organisations collaborating to inspire and educate girls and women to explore technology-related fields and pursue technology careers. In 2023, Tech She Can reached 53,000 pupils in classrooms across the UK. With a focus on social mobility, more than 50% of the schools were in disadvantaged areas.

The initiative forms part of THG’s ambitions of achieving 50% female representation in THG’s Graduate & Apprenticeship schemes by 2025, one of the four key objectives in its THG x Planet Earth sustainability strategy. Jo Drake, chief information officer at THG, said: “Our joint efforts will ignite inspiration and provide deeper insights into technology careers for upcoming generations. This partnership enables long term improvement in representation across the entire technology industry and we are excited to see where this partnership will take us.”

Dr Claire Thorne, co-CEO at Tech She Can, said: “Support from THG and our strategic partners allows us to significantly increase the scale of our work and meet the massive demand we are seeing. We are directly creating a more diverse workforce for now and in the longer term.”

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Serge Scherbyna and Polina Vynohradova

Manchester’s iconic King Street has announced the latest addition to the retail hotspot, in Stunner Vintage Football Store, which is owned by Ukrainian couple, Serge Scherbyna and Polina Vynohradova.

The store sells exclusive vintage football shirts from the early 90s to the noughties and has opened on 9 South King Street. It was founded after Serge and Polina fled Ukraine under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme just before the conflict broke out in early 2022, finding a place of belonging in Manchester where they could share their love of football with the community.

DTZ Investors is the majority stakeholder of King Street and Thomas Royston, director at DTZ Investors, said: “Stunner is a fantastic addition to King Street as it unites an already huge community of football fans here in Manchester, offering a unique and authentic shopping experience.”

Serge and Polina said: “There’s no doubt about it, Manchester is home to some of the greatest vintage football shirts, so for us to open our store on King Street, right in the heart of it all, is fantastic.

“We’re incredibly proud of our humble beginnings and for taking the leap to set up shop here, making the best out of what was a daunting situation to be in back home. We love nothing more than sharing our passion for football and know for sure that Manchester is the best place to do that.”